Frequently asked questions
Wastes from the food we eat, such as fruit offcuts and vegetable scraps, contain more nutrients than leaves and twigs that you find in the garden. This means that composting them also creates richer compost.
You can return the goodness in everyday kitchen scraps and leftovers to your garden soil through rich compost, which can lower your fertiliser usage and save money.
It is easy to turn waste into compost using Bioverter. Simply lift the lid to add your everyday kitchen waste and let Bioverter make rich compost for you.
Bioverter is designed to stop this undesirable situation from happening. Wastes in compost bins and tumblers start to smell if they aren't mixed enough and run out of oxygen.
Bioverter ensures a constant flow of air to your wastes automatically, which prevents problems due to a lack of oxygen.
Bioverter aerates itself, which means that it doesn't produce smells that attract unwelcome visitors like rats and bugs.
Troublesome smells can be caused by inappropriate selection of waste in a compost bin or tumbler, or a lack of proper aeration. The smell may be faint or even undetectable by you.
Bioverter has been used trouble-free in Melbourne, Australia for several years without any external protectors.
It is possible to add worms if you are eager to produce farmed (red and tiger) worm castings.
However, we strongly recommend cultivating free-range earthworms in your garden using Bioverter's compost harvests. Earthworms naturally improve the soil as they burrow deep in your garden and also produce nutritious worm casts.
Bioverter's groundbreaking design lets you know when to harvest. Waste put in at the top automatically descends as it transforms into compost. A pull out collector at the bottom gathers fresh compost for you to harvest.
Picking the right time to harvest compost is important when using a compost bin or tumbler. Every time you mix a bin or tumbler, the wastes are jumbled up and materials that are nearly ready for harvesting end up among raw waste. This means you have to mix everything to aerate the dispersed raw waste, and delay your harvest till when you decide all the compost is ready.
Your harvest is fresh compost. It is packed with nutrients recovered from kitchen scraps but they need more time to change into a form that plants can take up. Fresh compost has limited applications in your garden.
We recommend making the most out of your fresh compost by leaving it to rest in a sheltered spot. This resting period allows fresh compost to evolve naturally into its highly beneficial soil-like state.
Fully rested compost is dark and crumbly. It feels, looks and smell like rich soil. It works like a nourishing sponge, releasing nutrients and water when required by plants. It enables you to reuse nutrients in your kitchen scraps and enhance your soil at the same time.
Adding value to compost harvests is simple - rest your fresh compost to create either fresh topsoil or soil superfood. You'll magnify the benefits for your soil and as a result, enjoy greater gardening rewards.
Compost juice is a new innovation that can't be created with standard composting systems. Bioverter creates this unique product from kitchen scraps with high moisture content such as fruits and vegetables.
Soil probiotics, soluble nutrients and humus substances are the ingredients which makes compost juice very useful for your plants and garden.
It is easy to harvest and use compost juice straight away. Pull out its collector, pour the juice into a watering can, add water to dilute it, and then apply the diluted compost juice to your soil or plants.
While it can work in either, Bioverter works better when positioned to account for the climate you live in.
In Australia, the sun can get scorching hot, so try not to put Bioverter in full sun. If possible, provide shade during midday and the afternoon.
Shading Bioverter in summer also helps to slow the loss of compost juice by evaporation. You could use potted plants or other barriers to shade at least its base. On very hot days, adding one or two cups of water can help to rehydrate your materials before harvesting compost juice the next day.
On the flip side, catching some morning sun can help to take the chill away in an area with cold nights.
Don't forget to consider ease of access too - Bioverter is insulated for weather protection, so it's okay to sacrifice some shade for a more convenient location.
The Bioverter unit is 90cm tall with a square 38cm x 38cm base - almost the size of a small wheelie bin.
It is designed to be compact and handy for households with limited space, while producing enough output for keen gardeners.
Bioverter units have been used for years without any issues. They successfully dealt with kitchen wastes generated by households of between 1 and 4 occupants.
Each unit is made out of polypropylene, which is a food safe, durable and recyclable plastic. The base uses the same type of polypropylene found in ice cream and yoghurt containers. A foam variant is used to insulate its upper portion. The whole unit is UV protected to ensure longevity.
You should continue to put garden waste in compost bins. They are well suited to garden waste and make a perfect companion system to Bioverter. Kitchen scraps will stink and rot in a normal compost bin if mixed inadequately, but Bioverter can handle them without any outside help.
Compost bins are handy for dealing with hard waste such as corn cobs, avocado and mango stones, and food-stained pizza boxes. Excluded from Bioverter, these wastes usefully diversify garden waste in compost bins.